02/08/2012

Research Proposal On Effective Performance Management In A Culturally-Diverse Workplace

INTRODUCTION

This paper discusses research proposal on effective
performance management in a culturally-diverse
workplace. Specifically, the research will focus on how performance
management impacts job satisfaction among black employees in the public sector.
In this research proposal, the problem, context and theme of the study are
presented; the objectives of the study and the research statements are
formulated. Here, vital concepts, questions and assumptions are stated. The
proposal also provides a brief review of literature related to the topic.
Finally, the scope and limitation of the study and the methodology to be used
are discussed.

The impetus for undertaking this study stems from my belief that
racism is still blatant in the UK, especially in the workplace. I have
observed and gathered initial data pertaining racial discrimination so I find it
necessary to investigate manifestations of biases. Generally, the purpose of the
research is to conduct a descriptive study on the current performance management
and how this addresses the issue of racial equality in the workplace.
Specifically, the study will attempt to determine the perception of black
employees in London relating to their work. This study will also discuss job
satisfaction and the black people’s opportunities for career growth. The study
will furnish discussions made by other authors regarding relating performance
management to
cultural diversity.

The focus of this problem statement is to analyse the sentencing process of the
US criminal justice. Literature shows that it is biased against black people
and other racial minorities. For the purpose of this study, the researcher shall
test the validity of the null hypothesis, “Racial minorities, especially
black people, feel that the police and the courts favour white people and
are biased against them

LITERATURE REVIEW

Black Employment in
London

According to the
Greater London Authority (2002), there are currently 28 percent black and ethnic
minorities in London, which will increase to nearly 31 percent by 2011. GLA
(2002), in its report on
black people employment, has recognised that London has failed and is
continuing to fail many of its black and minority ethnic communities. Most
minority communities face unacceptable levels of unemployment, deprivation and
discrimination.

The GLA (2002) report
shows that members of minority groups in the
public sector are over-represented in lower valued jobs; while it seems that
those in jobs which offer advancement do not to reach the same levels of
seniority as white workers of the same experience. Moreover, this
under-representation of black and minority ethnic workers in professional and
managerial positions ultimately affects service providers in tackling the
problems arising from deprivation and discrimination; this also raises questions
about the effectiveness with which the public sector has implemented
equal opportunities policies in the past.

In the last two
decades, the structure of employment in London has undergone fundamental
changes, with enormous job losses in manufacturing industries and job growth in
services. As part of this process, more of the workforce employed in high valued
'knowledge economy' occupations and in low valued occupations, while far less
are employed in the
medium earning strata. Members of most minority ethnic groups are also more
likely to be in part-time employment than the majority population. Nearly 24 per
cent of black and minority ethnic Londoners who are in employment are working
part-time (GLA, 2002).

Changes in the
labour market in recent years have tended to further existing practice of
inequality. London's labour market has become increasingly polarised in terms
of the kinds of jobs people do and the rewards they receive, showing a clear
ethnic bias, with black and minority ethnic groups having generally poorer
outcomes than white Londoners (GLA, 2002). According to the report, much of
black people in London are employed in public sector: Forty per cent of black
women and 23 per cent of black men. Of the 732,000 Londoners employed in the
public sector, 170,000 are black and minority ethnic groups.

According to the
Commission for Racial Equality (1996) when applying for employment, black
applicants are less likely to be invited to interviews or be offered a position
despite having similar qualifications to white applicants. In their study of the
recruitment of doctors, Esmail and Everington (1993) found that applications
were rejected disproportionately on the basis of names that were or appeared to
be of black and minority ethnic origin.

In the
education sector, 11 per cent of teachers in London are of black and minority
ethnic origin. In inner London black and minority ethnic teachers make up just
under 14 per cent of the teaching force, compared to just over eight per cent in
Outer London. In health and social services, black and minority ethnic nurses
make up almost eight per cent of the total workforce, but less than one per cent
of directors of nursing. There are signs that younger black people may be less
willing to enter public sector jobs, such as nursing, than earlier generations.
Nearly 25 per cent of nurses aged over 55 years old in Britain are black or
Asian, compared with less than three per cent of those aged under 25 (Department
of Health, 1999). In 1997, almost five per cent of nurses registered in 1997 in
the UK were of black Caribbean and African origin (GLA, 2002).

In 2001, there were
almost eight percent black staff and 81 percent white in the social service
sector in England. However, in London, 57 percent were white and just under 31
percent were black and ethnic minorities. In the Inner London boroughs, the
proportion of black and minority ethnic staff was higher, at 40 per cent, with
just under 30 per cent of black origin (Personal Social Services Staff of Social
Services Departments, 2001).

Ethnic minorities are
under-represented in all grades as employees in the police service, prison
service and in senior posts in all criminal justice agencies, although there
have been small improvements over the years (The Home Office, 2000). Following
the Macpherson Report of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the Home Secretary set
targets for the recruitment of people from minority ethnic groups into the
police forces of England and Wales. In September 2001, there were a total of
3,134 black and minority ethnic police officers, making up 2.5 per cent of the
national total (GLA, 2002).

Managing Diversity in the Workplace

The views on effective management of diversity in general and cultural diversity
in particular, are scattered and it is hard to find a common line of agreement
among the earlier writers. In one stream, there are writers arguing that a
culturally mixed work force holds a potential competitive advantage for
organizations (e.g., Cox and Blake, 1991; Mandrell and Kohler-Gray, 1990). In
another stream are the writers who stress that similarity helps to develop
cohesion which, in turn, is related to the success of a group. There are some
other authors whose position lies in the middle of these streams (e.g., Adler,
1986).

Leadership is a key issue in the development of groups, organizations and
nations (DeMeuse, 1986). The study of leadership plays a crucial role in the
behavioural and management sciences. It is generally
accepted that good leadership is essential to the functioning of an
organization. It may be useful to think of the leadership process as the
interaction between the situation, the leader, and the followers.

Culture is an important factor in understanding organisation, because for any
organisation to operate effectively it must for some extent have a general set
of beliefs and assumptions. Because understanding the term of the culture
metaphor helps organisations to be aware of how employees are thinking about the
organisation phenomena, and to recognize how different attitudes, value and
beliefs affect the workplace. Understanding and assessing the national culture
and organization's culture can mean the difference between success and failure
in today's fast changing organisational environment. Cultural assessment can
provide measurable data about the real organizational values and norms that can
be used to get management's attention.

Any organization, may it be profit oriented or not-for-profit, the most vital
asset is its employees. And for these organizations to maximize their assets,
they should manage the employees’ working condition with intelligence and
efficiency (Ulrich, 1998).They must be allowed to be involved in making
work-related decisions to further enhance the organizational structure (Delaney
& Huselid, 1996).

Furthermore, the structure of tasks among the employees strengthens the
organizational performance (Wilson, 1989). It is therefore necessary to
understand the employees for the organization to be effective (Schneider, 1983).
The development, building, motivation, enhancement and enrichment of the
employees of any organization largely depend on the leadership, mandate and
vision of the organization (Rainey & Steinbauer, 1999).People make or break the organization. Therefore, it is necessary for
organizations to be proactive with regard to their employees’ needs and
requirements.

According to Barbeschi (2002), the process of making an organization is
simultaneously the growth and maintenance of relationships among individuals who
are working towards a common goal and the actual accomplishment of tasks,
individually and collectively. In any organization, there exists a
cultural/political dimension (Barbeschi, 2002). It includes rituals and myths,
symbols and games. Due to the common behaviour, an internal integration within
the organization is developed. In a sense, all cultural learning reflects the
original values of individuals and their sense of what ought to be as distinct
from what is.

Performance Management

Performance management (PM) is a strategic HRM process that enables any business
to continuously evaluate and improve individual, subsidiary unit, and corporate
performance against clearly defined, preset objectives that are directly linked
to company strategy (Dowling et al., 1999). A number of studies have suggested
that design and implementation of PM has the potential to affect employee
attitudes in a way that makes a significant and positive contribution to company
performance (Fletcher and Williams, 1997; Rheem, 1996;).

Performance management appeared in the late 1980s and can be regarded as an
extension of performance appraisal. Today, however, performance appraisal is
considered as one of several key elements of PM (Tahvanainen, 1998), the others
being the communication of company strategy through individual objective
setting, links to training and development planning, and possibly compensation
(Mabey and Salaman, 1995). Despite the fact that much of the research has been
performed within the U.S. context, little research has been carried out on PM in
international settings (Dowling et al., 1994; Vance et al., 1992).

It is well known that employees with negative attitudes are likely to perform
poorly, cause disruptions in operations, and eventually jeopardize the viability
of the organization. Furthermore, it has been documented that job satisfaction
is related to turnover (e.g., Robbins, 1998). As Bjorkman, Lasserre, and Ching
(1997) have noted, job satisfaction and turnover are increasing challenges for
any businesses.

Various aspects of PM have been studied in both the international and
comparative contexts. For instance, scholars have addressed such issues as the
impact of national culture on management by objectives (Hofstede, 1991; Logger
et al., 1995), differences in management style and performance appraisal in
different countries (Vance et al., 1992), and national culture and its impact on
PM/performance appraisal (Lindholm, et al. 1999; Mendonca and Kanungo, 1997;
Snape et al., 1998).

Most studies have commonly concentrated on individual elements of PM in
isolation--for example, on objective setting (e.g. Locke and Latham, 1984), on
employee participation in objective setting (e.g., Dipboye and de Pontbriand,
1981), and on conveying performance feedback (e.g., DeGregorio and Fisher,
1988). Even though it could be assumed that multiple elements of PM would
influence employee job satisfaction, only a few studies have presented evidence
that the presence of elements such as job objectives, performance feedback,
subordinate participation in PM, and the presence of a career discussion
produces a positive change in employee job satisfaction (Fletcher and Williams,
1997; Roberts and Reed, 1996).

Research on job satisfaction is derived from human-relations theory and argues
that individuals develop positive job attitudes if their jobs allow them to
fulfil their needs (Maslow, 1954). Various factors have been shown to affect
employees' job satisfaction--for example, the nature of the work, promotion
opportunities, equitable rewards, supervision, supportive working conditions,
and colleagues (Robbins, 1998). Employees are motivated not only by extrinsic
needs but also, more importantly, by positive job-related factors such as skill
variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback (Hackman and
Oldham, 1976). It has been argued that if skill variety, task identity, and task
significance exist in a job, the incumbent will view the job as important,
valuable, and worthwhile. In addition, if the job grants autonomy, it gives the
employee a feeling of personal responsibility for the results, and, if it
provides feedback, the employee will know how effectively she or he is
performing (Robbins, 1998).

PM is an important process for influencing both the extrinsic and intrinsic
motivations of employees, that is, increasing employees' perceptions and
understanding of job tasks and subsequently their job satisfaction. For example,
elements of PM may provide the employee with a more accurate understanding of
job tasks through objective setting, leading to a clear sense of direction. PM
also serves to focus employee efforts and attention on critical tasks through
the use of performance feedback, which therefore assists employees in reducing
job errors and minimizing the risks of learning through trial and error.

Performance management commonly emphasizes the communication of organizational
goals by integrating them into departmental and, more specifically,
individual-level goals and job objectives (Fletcher and Williams, 1997). Some
scholars have suggested that the method by which objectives are set is not
important, since both styles increase goal commitment (Locke and Latham, 1984).
Other scholars have argued that the goal attainment of employees may be higher
where they are able to contribute to the formulation of job objectives since
their understanding of how to attain the objectives may thus be increased
(DeGregrio and Fisher, 1988; Latham and Wexley, 1994).

Performance management commonly entails a formal performance evaluation as well
as informal performance feedback about progress toward objectives (Foot and
Hook, 1996). Several scholars have argued that effective PM is dependent on
employees' perceptions that they are receiving fair performance evaluations
(Dipboye and de Pontbriand, 1981; Greenberg, 1986). However, perceptions of fair
performance evaluations are contingent not only on the outcome, but also on the
employees' understanding of the process by which their performance is evaluated
(Latham and Wexley, 1994). It has also been shown that informal performance
feedback is strongly correlated with job satisfaction (Wanguri, 1995). This has
led to the assertion that performance feedback, where it is conveyed frequently
and together with support from the manager, increases the acceptance of PM and
satisfaction with the manager (Latham and Saari, 1979).

Komaki, Zlotnick and Jensen (1986) suggest three types of supervisory behaviours
specifically related to employee performance. These levels are: (1) performance
antecedents, (2) performance monitoring, and (3) performance consequences. The
first refers to the preparation including training and instruction provided for
successful task accomplishment; the second points to data collection and the
evaluation of goal attainment and task accomplishment; the third relates to
outcomes and rewards following task accomplishment.

Diversity training has the potential for better alignment with organizational
diversity goals by importing self-efficacy principles in the training setting
(Mager 1992). To impact individual diversity self-efficacy, diversity training
must incorporate mastery, modelling and observational learning experiences. As a
corollary to training, organizational leadership can be used effectively as
models for appropriate diversity behaviours. According to Baron and Henderson
(1995), as strategic leaders, managers, supervisors and upper level management
could contribute to employee diversity self-efficacy by self-preparation and
modelling of positive diversity change agent skills.

The type of leadership needed to meet the challenges of diversity must be
simultaneously task specific, broad based and defused. 21st century leadership
must go beyond managing diversity to exercising leadership in diversity (Buss,
2001). The incorporation of self-efficacy principles in diversity training and
building diversity self-efficacy facilitate individual specific diversity
leadership.

Diversity self-efficacy encompasses an element of individual self-evaluation and
self-monitoring of personal actions and motivational outlooks. In this regard,
performance monitoring becomes more a function of the individual employee's
self-efficacy mechanisms rather than supervisory imposed monitoring practices
and procedures. By facilitating efficacious beliefs regarding diversity and
providing the appropriate environment for continued mastery and modeling,
employees acquire leadership skills that enable them to create change in their
specific work environments. These changes should provide needed impetus for
greater and broader based effectiveness in all diversity arenas.

Leaders in organizations have implemented a number of methods in attempts to
change the impact of diversity on workforce interactions and operational
processes (Wentling & Palma-Riva, 1998). These methods include financial
incentive systems, diversity as a component of performance evaluations,
discipline to enforce higher individual employee accountability, executive level
coordination and monitoring, and recognition and awards programs. In spite of
these efforts the weight of the success of these and similar diversity
initiatives is shouldered by organization training and education efforts
(Carr-Ruffino, 1996; Owens, 1997). The concept of diversity education or
training has become the primary and overarching change initiative for the vast
majority of organizations (Johnson & O'Mara, 1992).

METHODOLOGY

There are three kinds
of research methods, correlational, experimental and descriptive (Walliman &
Baiche, 2001). The correlational research refers to studies in which the purpose
is to discover relationship or association between variables. On the other hand,
Landman (1988) summarises experiential research when he states that it is
research designed to study cause and consequence. Basically, experimental
research is the method that can be applied in a research laboratory.

This study will employ
the descriptive research method using observation and surveys. In this method,
it is possible that the study would be cheap and quick. Nonetheless, it would be
very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations.
Descriptive research is a type of research that is primarily concerned with
describing the nature or conditions and degree in detail of the present
situation (Landman, 1988; Creswell, 1994). The emphasis in this type of research
is to describe rather than to judge or to interpret. The aim of descriptive
research is to verify formulated hypotheses that refer to the present situation
in order to elucidate it.

According to Klopper
(1990) researchers who use this method for their research usually aim at
demarcating the population by means of perceiving accurately research parameters
and recording in the form of a written report of that which has been perceived.
Because the total population during a specific investigation can not be
contemplated as a whole, researchers make use of the demarcation of the
population or of the selection of a representative test sample. Test sampling
therefore forms an integral part of descriptive research.

I opt to use this kind
of research because I want to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as
to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
Moreover, this method allows me to utilise approaches that are more applicable
in understanding a culture. The purpose of this study is to describe how
cultural factors affect managers in managing a culturally diverse organisation.

To come up
with pertinent findings and to provide credible recommendations, this study
utilises two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data
will be obtained through this new research study. Questionnaire survey and
in-depth interviews will be conducted. On the other hand, the secondary research
data will be obtained from previous studies on the same topic.

The research described in this
document is based on qualitative research methods because I intend to find and
build theories that will explain the relationship of one variable with another
variable through qualitative elements in research. Through this method,
qualitative elements that do not have standard measures such as behaviour,
attitudes, opinions, and beliefs will be analysed.

Furthermore qualitative research can be multimethod in focus, involving an
interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that
qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to
make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to
them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of interconnected
methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.

For this research design, I will gather data, collate published studies from
different local and foreign universities and articles from social science
journals; and make a content analysis of the collected documentary and verbal
material. Afterwards, the researcher will summarise all the information, make a
conclusion based on the null hypotheses posited and provided insightful
recommendations on the possibility of harmonising Kuwaiti clothing and Western
clothing.

Closed questions
type will be used for the survey. A closed question is one that has pre-coded
answers. The simplest is the dichotomous question to which the respondent must
answer yes or no. Hague (1993) classified three types of questions: behavioural,
attitudinal and classification. Behavioural questions seek factual information
on what the respondents do or own; attitudinal questions intend to know what
respondents think of something; and classificatory questions seek information
that can be used to group respondents to see how they differ one from another.
For this study, the above mentioned three types of closed questions will be used
to analyse the behaviours and attitudes of the respondents toward a successful
project teams.

Closed questions
will be used because the answers are easy to analyse and are straightforward as
target respondents are mostly busy that they do not have enough time to give
attention to open questions. Closed response questions save the respondent
having to think of possible replies. They also make the process easier for the
interviewer who simply has to tick a box or circle a number. Moreover, they
spare the coding staff difficult judgements which, if wrong, can skew the
findings.

A sample is a finite
part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain
information about the whole (Webster, 1985). When dealing with people, it can be
defined as a set of respondents (people) selected from a larger population for
the purpose of a survey. A population is a group of individuals persons,
objects, or items from which samples are taken for measurement for example a
population of presidents or professors, books or students.

Sampling is the act,
process, or technique of selecting a suitable sample, or a representative part
of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or characteristics of
the whole population. To draw conclusions about populations from samples, we
must use inferential statistics which enables us to determine a population’s
characteristics by directly observing only a portion (or sample) of the
population. Obviously, it is cheaper to observe a part rather than the whole,
but we should prepare ourselves to cope with the dangers of using samples.

The population of
the study will be composed of black employees in the public sector in London.
This study will randomly select 125 samples from the population. For the
interview part, I will select five human resource managers using a purposive
sampling method.

To determine the needs of black employees with regard to such issues as
harassment and discrimination in any level, I will prepare a questionnaire and a
set of guide questions for the interview that will be asked to the intended
respondents. The data collection instrument will be a structured questionnaire
that will be designed and based on Likert scale. A Likert Scale is a rating
scale that requires the subject to indicate his or her degree of agreement or
disagreement with a statement. The respondents will grade each statement in the
survey-questionnaire using a Likert scale with a five-response scale wherein
respondents would be given five response choices.

Wanguri, D.M. (1995). A Review, an Integration, and a Critique of
Cross-Disciplinary Research on Performance Appraisals, Evaluations, and
Feedback: 1980-1990. Journal of Business Communication, 32(3), 267-288.